When will the ministry start kicking butt and taking names?

[quick_silver71]

No: HPFGUIDX 146827

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "Miles" <miles at m...> wrote:
> Somehow I do not like JKR's characterisation of the Ministry. Up 
to now, we
> didn't see a single "politician" in the WW that really tries to do 
the right
> things. All of them we do know are like charicatures of 
politicians, and the
> undertone of this is a bit problematic.
> Most list members will be able to seperate a literal description 
of a
> fiction Ministry and its politicians from real life. But if we try 
to see
> the message of the HP series, to only have politicians without any
> responsibility for anything apart from their own reputation may 
influence
> the attitude of some readers towards democratic systems in general 
(even if
> the WW is not a democratic society - but appears to be).
> 
> I would like to see a "good" politician in book 7 as much as a good
> Slytherin (most politicians seem to be Slytherins...) - but stop, 
we saw
> Slughorn, so part 2 of my wish is checked off.
> 
> Miles
>

Miles I agree with your statement about not liking the 
characterization Ministry. But I'm not sure that part of that isn't 
deliberate on the part of JK (aside from taking a shot at 
politicians). Look at Voldemort's strategy against the Order...he 
specifically targets members that are often described as "great" 
or "worthy to be killed by Voldemort himself." Within weeks of being 
exposed to the wizarding public Voldemort takes out Amelia 
Bones...the witch that a large number of fans thought was going to 
become Minister of Magic and was described by Dumbledore as 
a "great" witch. So part of Voldemort plan is to kill the 
future/current leaders of the wizarding world it seems...which could 
be why the wizarding world is "scrapping the bottom of the barrel" 
with people like Fudge and Umbridge in power.

It could also be that the system of checks and balances in the 
wizarding world has been thrown out by the war with Voldemort. Take 
Lucius Malfoy as an example...Lucius was able to use his influence, 
money, power, etc to sway the Ministry and have some presence within 
it. In another world Lucius would have to compete against people 
like James Potter, who was also a pure-blood, rich, well liked 
(unless your name is Snape), etc, for influence within the Ministry. 
Another example is Frank and Alice Longbottom...they seem to come 
from a old wizarding line(s), are described as being popular within 
the wizarding world, and are members of the Order yet by the end of 
first war they were tortured into madness. So they can't have any 
influence on the wizarding world now.

Quick_Silver